When a young female doctor notices an unnatural amount of comas occurring in her hospital she uncovers a horrible conspiracy.

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(screenplay), (novel)
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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Dr. Susan Wheeler (as Genevieve Bujold)
...
...
...
...
...
Hari Rhodes ...
Dr. Morelind (as Harry Rhodes)
Gary Barton ...
...
...
Jim
Alan Haufrect ...
Lance LeGault ...
Vince (as Lance Le Gault)
Michael MacRae ...
Chief Resident
...
Nurse
...
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Storyline

A young woman doctor discovers something sinister going on in her hospital. Relatively healthy patients are having 'complications' during simple operations and ending up in comas. The patients are then shipped off to an institute that looks after them. The young doctor suspects there is more to this than meets the eye. Written by Colin Tinto <cst@imdb.com>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

Imagine your life hangs by a thread. Imagine your body hangs by a wire. Imagine you're not imagining.


Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

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Details

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Release Date:

6 January 1978 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Koma  »

Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (video)

Sound Mix:

Color:

(Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the experimental clinic was The Jefferson Institute whilst the name of the hospital was the Boston Memorial Hospital, the latter closely resembling the real life Massachusetts General Hospital, though the site used for it was the real life Boston City Hospital. See more »

Goofs

At around 1:26:47, when Mrs. Emerson tells Norman about the electrical inspection, the numbered blocks in her desktop calendar change between shots. See more »

Quotes

Dr. Susan Wheeler: You did it.
[Put people in irreversible comas]
Dr. George A. Harris: No decision is easy, Sue. It only looks that way when you're young. When you're older, everything is complicated. There is no black and white, only gray.
See more »

Connections

Spoofed in Doctor Who: The Curse of the Black Spot (2011) See more »

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User Reviews

 
Excellent medical thriller
5 March 2003 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

Patients check into the (fictitous) Boston Memorial Hospital for routine operations and, inexplicably, go into irreversible comas. Dr. Susan Wheeler (Genevieve Bujold) wants to know why much to the disappointment of her doctor boyfriend (Michael Douglas). When she tries to find answers, she finds herself marked for death.

Michael Crichton directed from Robin Cook's great novel. There are huge gaps in logic, but the film is so exciting and entertaining those can be forgiven. It's fairly well-directed and well-done overall. There are many great sequences--Bujold being stalked by a killer in the hospital late at night; a visit to the creepy Jefferson Institute; some lovely views of Cape Cod MA; Bujold, and then Douglas, tracking a suspicious oxygen line and the "accidental" death of a janitor. Also there's Jerry Goldsmith's loud, pounding score moving the picture along and, best of all, this was shot on location in Boston.

The acting is so-so. Douglas and Bujold are OK as the leads. Richard Widmark is having the time of his life playing a hospital administrator. Rip Torn and Elizabeth Ashley also turn in good performances. Also look for Tom Selleck, Ed Harris (with hair!) and Joanna Kerns in bit parts.

A very good movie. However you do have to deal with some very dated dialogue of Bujold trying to make it in a "man's" world. Also be aware that this is pretty extreme for a PG rated movie--there are fairly clear shots of Bujold's body during a shower scene and plenty of nude, dead bodies in a freezer sequence and some really gruesome scenes throughout the hospital.

This film has disappeared for some reason. It caused a lot of excitement around here when it was filmed in 1977 and was a big hit in 1978. Then it just disappeared. That's surprising considering how the careers of Cook, Crichton and Douglas have taken off. It deserves rediscovery.


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